David Brandão has been the head chef of some of Lanzarote's best restaurants, a prominent figure at the Saborea Lanzarote fairs, and has also served as a hotel director. The chef, originally from Porto, arrived in Spain 15 years ago and just two months ago took the leap to open his own restaurant in Lanzarote with his wife Ángela Vásquez, a dining room expert.
In an interview with the radio program Más de Uno Gourmet on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, Brandao explains that his restaurant Allpa Gastrobar, includes dishes from his travel memories. From those he discovered traveling with his grandparents through Portugal, to dishes from Peru he learned about through his Peruvian wife, and from other trips including Croatian, Slovenian, or American dishes, among other offerings.
- How did the idea of dedicating yourself to cooking arise?
It was thanks to my grandparents, who spent weekends with me and liked to travel from north to south of Portugal to go to a specific city to eat. We would make 300-kilometer trips just to go for lunch. They didn't go to the city to visit it, they went to enjoy its gastronomy and then we would take the opportunity to stroll
How did you get to Lanzarote?
First I arrived in Fuerteventura. My idea was to travel the world, but I landed in Fuerteventura and met my wife, so I stayed on the islands. An opportunity arose for me to come to Lanzarote with Princesa Yaiza, I worked for their restaurant Isla de Lobos, where I stayed for 5 years and that's where my adventure in Lanzarote began.
- After being head chef in several restaurants, you went on to manage an entire hotel. How was that transition?
I'm a rather restless person and I believe that training and knowledge take up no space, so I got an MBA, some master's degrees in business management. When you're a chef, the business side is very important, and I felt the need to keep growing in that business aspect.
But I never disconnected from cooking, which was always truly my passion. Last year I did three training courses at the Basque Culinary Center.
- You have recently inaugurated a new gastronomic project, your own restaurant…
I think every chef aspires to have their own space, and I had been looking for a place to start my own project for a couple of years, and it has become a reality.
- Where is it and what is its name?
It is located in Playa Blanca, in the Faro Pechiguera area, it is called Alpa Gastrobar and it is a casual, family-friendly place, where I am doing the kind of cooking I really feel like doing.
- How did the idea come about?
Given my background in gastronomy and management, and that of Ángela, my wife, who has many years of experience in front-of-house service, we are the perfect team.
- Why Allpa?
Ángela's land is Peru and allpa means land in the Quechua language, she wanted to give him a surprise. The restaurant is family-run and down-to-earth, with a cuisine of travel memories.
We have dishes from Peru and Portugal, but also from Slovenia, Croatia, the United States, because in my free time I continue to do what my grandparents taught me, to travel to eat.
We work with fresh produce, fish from right here in Lanzarote, for example, to make the ceviche
- What are your hours?
We are open from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM every day except Saturdays.
